John Donne as a metaphysical poetry.
John Donne is famous as metaphysical poet, because all qualities of metaphysical poetry are present in his works. Dryden was first who used them term for Donne, by saying,
"He affects the metaphysics."
The first quality of Donne's metaphysical poetry is concentration. When we read his poetry, we are clung to idea or line of argument. For example in the poem, "The Extasie", we are attracted toward his viewpoint about love . He deals the subject of love on physical and spiritual levels. He compares both the lovers with army. According to him their souls are like negotiators. They are not committed to either side. Only those who are gifted can understand the dialogues of the two souls and realize the true nature of love. The communication of the souls of lovers reveals the true essence of love.
In another poem," The Blossom" he remains concentrated on the idea of love throughout the poem. Firstly he desires to have a beloved with whom he can enjoy physical love.Then he says that he will go to foreign country but his heart will remain at home and will continue love making with his beloved.
The second quality of Donne's metaphysical poetry is the use of expanded epigrammatic technique, nothing is described in detail. Words used are not very vast. For example in the poem ," The Message ", he discusses the theme of insincerity of his beloved within twenty lines .The following stanza of this poem contains four lines and each lines contains only thre words.
"such forced fashions,
and false passions ,
that they be
made by thee"
In another poem " the Anniversarie" that contains only thirty lines assures his beloved of his companionship.As he says,
" All other things, to their distruction decay
Only our love hath no decay"
Use of conceit : Use of conceit is an important feature of Donne,s poetry.Use of fantastic comparison is conceit and it isoften employed by Donne. The most famous and striking one is the comparison of a man who travels and his beloved who stays at home to a pair of compasses in the poem, "A Valediction of forbidding mourning".
"If they be two ,they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two,
Thy soul the fixt foot,makes no show
To move, but doth, if the other doe."
In the poem," The Good Morrow", Donne makes another striking comparison of two lovers with hemisphere ,who form the whole world when they meet.
In the song " Goe and catche the Falling Star" he compares the woman with falling star and mandrake root. He says that as it is difficult to catch a falling star,so it is difficult to find a true and sincere women.In this very poem , he makes another comparison when he says that as it is impossible to fund a sincere lady in the world.
"Yet she
will be
False, Ere I come , to two,or three."
Combination of Thought and Passion: Combination of thought and passions is another characteristic of Donne's Metaphysical poetry. This combination of thought and passions has been declared by T.S Eliot, Unification of Sensibility. In simple words we can say that in his poems there is an intellectual analysis of emotions. For example in the poem," Good morrow", when he says that lovers are the best possible who makes the world, We can find the combination of thoughts and feelings because love is the element of feelings while the world is that thought. In another poem" Aire and Angels",this fusion of thoughts and feeling is quite visible when he compares beuty with ship and asserts that one should praise beauty but never overload.Appreciation of beauty is Donne's feelings while his advise not to overload is his thought.
Use of wit: Use of wit is also characteristics of Donne's metaphysical poetry. He creates wit through the use of conceit ,irony and exaggeration . For example, he creates wit by comparing lovers tears with precious coins in the poem,"Valediction: of weeping". In the poem,"Twicknam Garden", Donne's create wit when he ironically remarks that he is to bring a poisioning love which changes every sweet thing into bitter and this place is thoroughly paradise where he has brought serpent in his company.
"True paradise, I have the serpent brought."
He also creates wit when he uses the technique of exaggeration
and paradox and says that
"Goe and catche a falling star
Get with child a mandrake tree."
Conclusion: to conclude we can say that Donne's poetry has all the characteristics of metaphysical poetry. According to a critic, Donne is metaphysical not only by virtue of his scholasticism but by his deep reflective interest in the expression, the new psychological curosity with which he writes of love and religion.
The End.
